Extract Smart P&ID Files

The Gateway extracts the files from Smart P&ID and SmartSketch data sources such as .PID and .IGR files.

To configure extraction of the Smart P&ID/SmartSketch files:

1. Click Extract from the left panel.

   Input Source type for this extractor is File System by default.

2. Define the Input Path for the location of the input files (.PID/.IGR files), either typing directly or use the Browse File Path to select a single file or Browse Folder Path to select a folder of files.

   

3. Select Search in input folder for broken links box if the input drawing file(s) have links (references) to additional files but their original locations cannot be accessed by the Gateway or the files are not present in the referenced location and the relevant files have been collocated with the input drawing file(s).

4. Line Gap: This parameter determines how lines that graphically cross other lines will be represented in the SVG.
   Select Horizontal if the gap is to appear in horizontal lines or Vertical if the gap is to appear in vertical lines. In the Width field enter the size of the gap from 0 to 100. A value of 0 means the same as option None, that is, no gap is generated.

5. Tag Separators:

   • Parent & Nozzle: In the exported data, the object IDs (tags) of sub-components such as nozzles are a concatenation of the sub-component’s tag and the tag of their parent equipment. In the Sub-Component delimiters= field, enter the delimiter that is to separate the parent and sub-component tags in the object ID that is exported. The default value is '-'.

   • Symbol Labels: When an input object has more than one label then its object ID will be formed from a concatenation of those labels. This parameter defines the separator to be used between the label values. The default value is '-'.

6. Other Settings:

   • Fast Graphics Mode: When Fast Graphics Mode is selected, drawing entities such as filling areas that are not required for the output are not exported, speeding up the process. This box is deselected by default.

   • Invert Colors For Embedded Tables: Select this option if the default colors of the embedded table need to be inverted, for example, when the output drawing background has been inverted. This box is deselected by default.

7. Select Save Settings.

Supported PID and IGR drawing version

The Extractor can read all .PID and .IGR drawings compatible with SmartSketch versions 2018 and 11.1. Please refer to the Hexagon Support web site for SmartPlant P&ID versions compatible with SmartSketch versions 2018 and 11.1.

Notes:

• You must install SmartSketch along with its license on the same machine (server/PC) as the Gateway.

• It is recommended to install the latest HotFix to SmartSketch.

• You must install Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel on the PC for Smart P&ID extractor to process files containing Microsoft Word and Excel objects accordingly.

• Only one process of the Gateway for 2D Data can run at a time on each machine the Gateway is installed on.

The extraction process reads the P&ID data via the SmartSketch application, which may open editor windows or pop-up messages concerning problems found while reading .PID or .IGR drawings, which are also logged.

Note: Do not close these dialogue windows as it may disrupt SmartSketch's reading of the drawings and affect the stability of the Gateway's processing. These windows should disappear within a few seconds and processing succeeds. If any do not disappear, please submit a support ticket for further analysis.

When running the Gateway, either interactively or as a Task, ensure that you have Read/Write access to the input and output file locations. For example, while preparing the automation process, you need to create a task in the Task Scheduler by selecting the Run with highest privileges option, as shown in the following figure:

Limitations and Recommendations

Some drawings rendered by the Gateway into SVGs may look different from the original Smart P&ID diagrams. This is due to limitations in a third-party application’s API, which the Gateway uses to obtain the drawing entities.

These limitations are listed as follows:

• Label Positions Limitations

  The following discrepancies are observed for label positions:

  • Text item may have incorrect horizontal or vertical position.

  • Text box containing a few lines of text may have differently divided content into sections, compared to the original drawing.

  • Font size may be different from the original drawing. The range of text displacement or size can be negligible but, in some cases, it may be large enough to cover other text outside the intended area.

    Recommendation

    To minimize or remove the effect of label positions limitations issue, you can perform the following while creating the P&ID:

  • Avoid creating labels and notes over many lines of text. When dealing with a single line of text, the errors in position are minimal.

  • Avoid splitting related information over two closely placed labels, as errors in label position will be more obvious.

  • Ensure that any fonts used in the P&ID are also installed on the server that will view the SVG rendition. Otherwise, a default font will be used, which will likely be a different size to the original font.

• Crossed Connectors Limitation

  The original drawing has a gap at the point of crossing of vertical and horizontal lines (connections), whereas in the SVG rendition, by default both lines are continuous without a gap.

  Recommendation

  • Use the Gateway’s setting: ‘ApplyLineGap’ and select the lines, horizontal or vertical that should contain a gap.

• Embedded Excel Tables Limitation

  When Excel tables are embedded in input P&ID files, they are rendered in output SVGs as raster images instead of tabular data. Consequently, the cells of these tables do not have any tags associated with them.

  Recommendation

  Whenever possible, use the Gateway for 1D Data to extract the tags from the Excel files rather than embedding them in the P&ID files.

• GluePoint Limitations

  When objects on the P&ID drawing are of type GluePoint, then access to their properties through the API is limited. This results in unsuccessful conversion of the symbol properties in the rendered SVG drawing:

  • The symbol properties in the SVG drawings may not appear at all or may be in a hidden layer.

  • The SVG drawing hatch patterns may look different or may not exist.

  • The SVG drawing line styles may be different.

    Recommendation

  • Avoid writing GluePoint objects into P&ID files if possible.

• Certain tag attributes not retrieved

  Normally Smart P&ID saves attributes such as tags to the P&ID files, but this may be affected by the Smart P&ID configuration. For example, some itemtags can be associated with objects in the P&ID drawing and saved to the project database, but their values may not be saved in the drawing files. In this case the SmartSketch API, which can only read data stored in the files, will not retrieve the itemtags values.

  Recommendation

  Contact Hexagon support to clarify how to store this specific itemtag in the PID file such that it is accessible by the SmartSketch API.